The Toronto Police Service’s first black female superintendent has been demoted to two years following a scandal in which she helped other black members of the force cheat in a promotion process.
Officer Stacy Clarke, a 26-year veteran of the police service, received the punishment at a police tribunal hearing in downtown Toronto on Wednesday.
According to officials, she will now serve as an inspector, one rank below her old position. She will also have to reapply for the rank of superintendent after 24 months, after pleading guilty to professional misconduct last year.
Outside the agency’s headquarters, Clarke said she planned to take time with her 17-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son to process the decision.
He rose to the post in 2020 after working in the agency’s homicide and divisional police units. He was the focus of an investigation after giving confidential information to six Black officers before their promotion interviews.
Constable Stacy Clarke, a 22-year veteran of the police service, received the sanction at a police tribunal hearing in downtown Toronto on Wednesday. She is seen leaving Toronto Police Headquarters here.
She will now serve as an inspector, one rank below her former position, officials said. She will have to reapply for the superintendent rank after 24 months, after pleading guilty to misconduct last year. Clarke became the first Black woman to be promoted to the position in 2020.
“It is what it is,” the new inspector told reporters outside police headquarters after pleading guilty in September. “I’m very disappointed, very sad about it.”
He added that he regrets leaking interview questions and answers to the six Black officers he mentored for their 2021 promotions.
This comes after a hearing this spring where he insisted he acted out of desperation to counter what he called “systemic anti-Black racism” and requested clemency.
Meanwhile, the local black community made it clear that they were also following the case.
“The community will be extremely disappointed and offended if Superintendent Stacy Clarke receives disproportionate discipline for her actions,” wrote one observer who attended the May hearing virtually.
“It will undoubtedly be seen as a direct result of the systemic racism that is deeply embedded in policing and will unequivocally impact the relationship between the police and the Black Canadian community,” they said.
At the time, disciplinary hearing officer Robin McElary-Downer told the veteran officer: “I apologize in advance, Superintendent Clarke. I know this weighs heavily on you.”
Announcing the court’s decision on Wednesday, McElary-Downer called the ousted superintendent’s actions a “cheating scheme,” while laying out some of the of transgressions.
“It is what it is,” the newly appointed inspector told reporters outside police headquarters after pleading for leniency in May over allegations she was trying to gloss over “systemic racism” at the department. “I’m very disappointed, I’m very sad about this.”
This included photograph the interview questions and answers and send them to the six trainees, who were not named.
Clarke also told one of the officers to delete the photos and conducted mock interviews to train them, McElary-Downer said.
“It’s clear that rank carries with it a higher expectation of impeccable behaviour,” the Ontario police officer said.
‘The nature of Superintendent Clarke’s misconduct undoubtedly shook the public’s confidence in her and, more broadly, in the Toronto Police Service.’
On how he came to that decision, he said: ‘I found sufficient and tangible evidence before me that demonstrates that (Clarke’s) actions amply illustrate abuse of position and abuse of power.
“This makes her an unfit candidate for automatic reinstatement to the rank of superintendent,” he said.
“Superintendent Clarke will have to reapply at a later date.”
“When he does, I have real hope that he will demonstrate his willingness to serve in the rank of superintendent.”
While an appeal has not yet been ruled out, the decision puts a cap on the scandal that has halted Clarke’s meteoric rise within the department over the past two decades.
While an appeal has not yet been ruled out, the decision puts a cap on the scandal that halted Clarke’s meteoric rise within the department after initially working in the community response unit, youth bureau and intelligence unit in the early 2000s.
He continued to work in the force’s divisional and homicide support units for several years, before transferring to the Toronto Police College in 2008.
Clarke was subsequently promoted and assigned to the 13th TPS Division with the rank of sergeant in 2010, and transferred to the 22nd Division two years later.
There, he worked in the first response unit and detective bureau, before receiving a promotion to staff sergeant in 2016 and heading the learning development and standards section at the Police College.
At the time, he also worked on the Police and Community Review (PACER) project, which explored how the TPS could bolster its image and increase public trust and safety.
In 2018, she rose to the senior rank of inspector, a position she will hold again for the next two years.
In 2018, she rose to the senior rank of inspector, a position she will hold for the next two years.
After that, there is no guarantee he will resume his old post, officials said, citing actions that brought “unwanted publicity” and caused “irreparable harm” to the Toronto Police Department.
Clarke’s defence had previously argued that Clarke should be demoted to the rank of inspector for one year to 18 months before being automatically reinstated, a wish that did not come to fruition.
He will have the option to appeal the decision in the coming days, officials confirmed.
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